A popular pizzeria in Newcastle’s Grainger Market is hoping to capture a bigger slice of the market by opening a new Italian deli and restaurant.

Family-run Slice has been serving up pizza fresh out of the oven for more than five years from its unit in the city centre market, taking orders from several hundred customers each day.

Now the business, which regularly draws long queues of customers for its breakfast calzones and pizza slices, is looking to expand by taking on the former Greggs unit close to the entrance, which has lain empty since the bakery giant left to open new shops nearby.

Plans have been submitted to Newcastle City Council which seek to convert the double unit at 12-13 Grainger Market into a combined delicatessen and restaurant, to be called Little Italy – Italian Deli food and shop.

The firm has enlisted Michael Taylor Studio architects in Newcastle to apply for all the necessary permissions inside the Grade I listed building, including a request for a change of use from retail to restaurant, as well as listed building planning permission.

How the Little Italy deli/restaurant in Newcastle's Grainger Market - a new venture for the owners of Slice - would look

Meanwhile, a design studio – Design Heritage Promotion Lab based in Giulianova, Italy – has also sent planners a series of computer generated images showing how the finishing deli and restaurant would look.

Proposals include turning half of one unit into a commercial kitchen with off sales counter to the front, whilst the adjoining unit would be fitted out as a restaurant.

The owners also want to remove the modern suspended ceilings to expose the true volume of the original space, almost doubling the headroom.

How the Little Italy deli/restaurant in Newcastle's Grainger Market - a new venture for the owners of Slice - would look

The documents sent in by Michael Taylor Studio architects, based in Chapel Park, say: “This application relates to units 12 and 13, situated on Alley 1 on the Eastern side of the market. Previously occupied by Greggs takeaway, the space has lain vacant for a number of years.

“Having successfully operated another unit in the market for some time, the applicant intends to create a combined Italian delicatessen / restaurant.

“The works will involved a fairly modest fit out, working with the existing constraints of the space.

“The overall appearance of the design is aimed to reflect the utilitarian nature of the genre, and also reflect the background of the applicant; a combination of old, traditional values, but interpreted in a modern way.

“The combined delicatessen / restaurant will be a welcome and currently uncatered for addition to the growing food offer within the market, serving to compliment the applicant’s existing take away pizza operation on Alley 4.

“Establishing a critical mass of local, young, entrepreneurial food-led businesses will be imperative if the market is to compete with more established operations, including at the time of submission, the forthcoming Grey’s Quarter.”